Improvement in platforms for railway-crossings



G. BROWN.

PLATFORMS FOR RAILWAY CROSSINGS.

Patented June 6,1876.

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N.PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAFNER. WASHINGTON. D C) UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE BROWN, OF NEWPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASS IGNOR TO HIMSELF AND JOSIAH R. DUNBAR, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN PLATFORMS FOR RAlLWA-V-CROSSINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 178,405, dated June 6, 1876; application filed May 8, 1876.

To all whom "it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE BROWN, of Newport, Perry county, State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and Improved Platform or Crossings for Railways; and I do hereby decla-rethe following to be an exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 represents a top view of the platform or railway-crossing. Fig. 2 is a crosssection of the same. Fig. 3 represents one of the cross-braces with its end plate.

The nature of my invention consists in a removable plank platform, in sections, for railway-crossings, held and secured by braces with extension-plates underneath, and perma nently fastened by burrs or clamps.

The object is to save time, labor, and waste of material when a railroad company wishes to raise or remove aplatform, as now in use,for the purpose of repairing the track, such as putting in new cross-ties or rails, or fixing the track in any way. In such case they must now tear up the plank walk or platform, in order to repair the said ties or rails, and in so doing they break and destroy the planks and spikes, and are unable to .put the same planks back to their places, thus causing much waste of material.

By my invention there is no waste of material, as it is used in sections, securely fastened by movable burrs or clamps, and when the platform requires raising for the purpose of repairing the track in any way, two men can take it up and put it down again in afew minutes in its original place, or at any other part of the road required.

A represents the planks at top, that are laid in sections, and may be laid straight or diagonally, being attached or nailed to crossbraces B B, to hold each section permanently at its end, the braces B having a flat plate, (3, projecting at their ends, that slides under the iron rails or track D at each end, so as to hold the planks securely to their places. E E are the cross-ties of the railroad. G Gare screw-bolts or burrs, with a flat round head and a nut above, and nut and clamping-block H below, for the purpose of fitting in a circular recess, J, in the end of theplank platform A A, and clamping the ends of the sections of platform A tightly together, and one or more screw-bolts may be screwed through the platform A into a cross-tie, E, to still further secure the platform, if deemed necessary, and intended to be used as a railway or street crossing.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- The construction and combination of the plank platform A, in sections, held by the cross-braces B B, flat plates 0 0, screw-bolts G G, with clamping-blocks H H, as a removable platform for railway or street crossings, as herein described, and for the purposes set forth.

GEORGE BROWN.

Witnesses:

W. Scorr DUNBAR, G. W. RoDEs. 

